Resume guide · Job Zone 5

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondaryresume guide.

Plan, direct, or coordinate the academic, administrative, or auxiliary activities of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools. A strong Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary resume shows active listening, learning strategies and judgment and decision making, and names the tools you have worked with, such as SAS, The MathWorks MATLAB and IBM SPSS Statistics.

See a sample Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary resumeAnnotated against this guide · 3 templates↓
Sample resume

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A Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary resume built in ResumeXRays, annotated against the data below. Flip the pages, try a template, then make it yours.

  1. 1Show your attendance plan with real numbers.Chronic absenteeism is one of the top problems districts are trying to fix, and hiring panels often ask principal candidates how they would bring it down. This bullet turns the guide's "Enforce discipline and attendance rules" into a rate that fell, using the Student information systems SIS software the guide lists as in demand.
  2. 2Show the teachers who stayed.The guide lists "Recruit, hire, train, and evaluate primary and supplemental staff" and Management of Personnel Resources. Keeping teachers is what districts struggle with now, so a retention rate says more than "supportive leader".
  3. 3Tie classroom visits to student results."Observe teaching methods and examine learning materials" is a core task in this guide. Counting the walkthroughs and naming the score that moved shows the feedback worked.
  4. 4Use the tool names districts post.Microsoft Excel, Microsoft SharePoint and IBM SPSS Statistics are hot tools in this guide, and student information systems are in demand. Write them the way job postings do so a search finds them.
  5. 5Write each certificate the way the state issues it.Give the full certificate name, the grade span, the issuing department and that it is active. A district can then confirm it in the state's educator lookup without calling you.
  6. 6List the degree that qualifies you to lead.Most people in this job hold a master's degree, and about one in ten has gone past it. Name the advanced degree and its field, and keep each degree to one line.

Sample resume. The candidate is fictional; the layout and templates are real.

Thessaly Brightman

Middle School Principal, Ed.S.

[email protected] / (573) 555-0154 / Columbia, MO

Summary

Middle school principal with 15 years in public schools: five leading a 640-student grades 6-8 building, five as a high school assistant principal and six teaching math. Known for steady attendance gains, a staff that stays, and classroom feedback that shows up in student scores.

Experience

Principal
Sassafras Run Middle School, Featherstitch R-5 School District / Columbia, MO
Jul 2021 - Present
Cut chronic absenteeism from 24% to 14% in two years by running a weekly attendance review in the student information system, adding home visits and pairing 85 students with an adult mentor.
Raised teacher retention from 78% to 93% over three years by meeting one-on-one with every teacher each spring to ask what would keep them, and protecting two common planning periods a week.
Led 300+ classroom walkthroughs a year with a shared feedback form tied to grade-level goals; math proficiency on the state assessment rose from 31% to 40% in three years.
Filled all 19 teaching openings before the first day of school two years in a row through a student-teacher pipeline with two nearby universities; 16 of those hires are still on staff.
Rewrote the behavior response plan with staff and families; out-of-school suspensions fell 46% and repeat office referrals dropped by a third.
Built the master schedule and a $4.1 million building budget in Microsoft Excel, adding a daily intervention block for 180 students without new positions.
Assistant Principal
Linden Terrace High School, Pocketwood School District / Jefferson City, MO
Aug 2016 - Jun 2021
Supervised and evaluated 38 teachers and support staff each year, finishing every evaluation and growth plan by the spring deadline.
Led a ninth-grade on-track team that reviewed grades and attendance weekly; freshmen on track to graduate rose from 79% to 89%.
Planned and led monthly professional development on reading in every subject for 90 staff, with post-session ratings averaging 4.5 out of 5.
Ran safety drills and the building crisis plan with local police and fire, passing every annual district safety audit.
Mathematics Teacher and Department Chair
Pocketwood High School, Pocketwood School District / Jefferson City, MO
Aug 2010 - Jul 2016
Taught Algebra I and Geometry to 140 students a year and chaired a seven-teacher department that aligned common unit tests across sections.

Skills

Tools:Student information systems SIS software, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft SharePoint, IBM SPSS Statistics, Google Drive, ParentSquare
Leadership:Teacher observation and evaluation, staff hiring and retention, master scheduling, building budgets, family and community engagement
Instruction:Curriculum alignment, professional development, attendance and intervention systems, behavior response planning, school safety planning

Certifications

Career Administrator Certificate, Middle School Principal (Grades 5-9), Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, active
Career Continuous Professional Certificate, Mathematics (Grades 9-12), Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, active

Education

Education Specialist (Ed.S.), Educational Leadership
Halberd State University
2016
Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, Mathematics
Hartwell College
2010

01Also called

O*NET
Athletic DirectorCurriculum and Instruction SuperintendentCurriculum DirectorElementary PrincipalK-12 Principal (Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade Principal)MS Principal (Middle School Principal)School Administrator (School Admin)School SuperintendentSPED Director (Special Education Director)Superintendent

02Skills employers expect

O*NET

Importance is how much the skill matters to the job; level is how much of it the job demands. Both are worth naming on the resume, in this order.

SkillImportanceLevel
Active ListeningVery highAdvanced
Learning StrategiesVery highAdvanced
Judgment and Decision MakingVery highAdvanced
Reading ComprehensionVery highAdvanced
SpeakingVery highAdvanced
Critical ThinkingVery highAdvanced
WritingVery highAdvanced
Management of Personnel ResourcesVery highAdvanced
Active LearningVery highAdvanced
Complex Problem SolvingVery highAdvanced

03Knowledge areas

O*NET
  • Education and Training
  • Administration and Management
  • English Language
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Psychology
  • Administrative
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Mathematics
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Computers and Electronics

04Common responsibilities

O*NET

Ordered by importance. Each one is a bullet waiting for a result and a number.

  1. Counsel and provide guidance to students regarding personal, academic, vocational, or behavioral issues.
  2. Confer with parents and staff to discuss educational activities, policies, and student behavior or learning problems.
  3. Observe teaching methods and examine learning materials to evaluate and standardize curricula and teaching techniques and to determine areas for improvement.
  4. Enforce discipline and attendance rules.
  5. Determine the scope of educational program offerings, and prepare drafts of course schedules and descriptions to estimate staffing and facility requirements.
  6. Recruit, hire, train, and evaluate primary and supplemental staff.
  7. Collaborate with teachers to develop and maintain curriculum standards, develop mission statements, and set performance goals and objectives.
  8. Set educational standards and goals, and help establish policies and procedures to carry them out.
  9. Evaluate curricula, teaching methods, and programs to determine their effectiveness, efficiency, and use, and to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations.
  10. Plan and lead professional development activities for teachers, administrators, and support staff.

05Software and tools

O*NET

57 tools across 21 categories. The six largest categories are below; Hot marks a hot technology, In demand a tool employers ask for most often.

Enterprise resource planning ERP software18
  • Microsoft Dynamics GP
  • NetSuite ERP
  • ACS Technologies HeadMaster
  • Blackbaud The Education Edge
  • Computer Resources MMS
  • eDistrict Internet Solutions eDistrict Unified
  • Effexoft EASI
  • Pearson PowerSchool
  • RecordKeeper Software School RecordKeeper
  • Rediker Software School Office Suite
  • Robust Software Overseer Suite
  • SchoolDESX
  • Seasia Consulting School Wizard
  • Skyward School Management System
  • Specialized Data Systems School Office
  • SunGard Public Sector IFAS
  • Thinc Technologies Virtual School
  • Wilcomp Software RenWeb
+ 13 more
Analytical or scientific software7
+ 2 more
Data base user interface and query software7
  • Microsoft AccessHotIn demand
  • Student information systems SIS softwareIn demand
  • Blackboard software
  • Attendance tracking software
  • LogicalBit Eimas
  • L-Systems X-ONE
  • School Attendance Keeper
+ 2 more
Computer based training software4
  • Schoology
  • Common Curriculum
  • Edulastic
  • Rethink Ed
Calendar and scheduling software2
  • Scheduling software
  • Google Calendar
Desktop communications software2
  • ParentSquare
  • Bloomz
Electronic mail software2
Multi-media educational software2
  • Nearpod
  • Seesaw
Cloud-based data access and sharing software1
  • Google Drive
Communications server software1
  • IBM Domino
Data base management system software1
  • Apache CassandraHot
Desktop publishing software1
Document management software1
Human resources software1
  • Human resource management software HRMS
Internet browser software1
Mobile messaging service software1
  • Intrado SchoolMessenger
Office suite software1
Presentation software1
Project management software1
  • Google Classroom
Spreadsheet software1
Word processing software1

06Education and preparation

O*NET
Typical education
Master's Degree
62% of surveyed workers. Others report Bachelor's Degree (27%) and Post-Master's Certificate (10%).
Preparation level
Job Zone 5 · Extensive preparation
Usually a graduate degree and extensive related experience.

07Putting it on your resume

ResumeXRays guidance
BEE · How to show it

Lead with what you built. For a Job Zone 5 role, hiring managers and parsers both look for outcomes before credentials. Put two or three results at the top of each job entry, with the scale or effect stated plainly.

Name the tools exactly. This occupation is heavy on named software. A skills section that says "SAS, The MathWorks MATLAB, IBM SPSS Statistics, Microsoft Access" matches more job descriptions than a general phrase. Use the spelling employers use.

Show learning strategies and judgment and decision making, not just active listening. Learning strategies and judgment and decision making rank close to active listening for this occupation. One bullet per role that shows a decision, a tradeoff or a result covers them.

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